MADISON (WKOW) -- A woman is dead after being hit by a train in west Madison late Thursday night, according to the Madison Police Department.
Friends and co-workers tell 27 News the 29-year old victim worked as a server at Sweeney's Oakcrest Tavern near the site of the collision.
"Due to a heartbreaking loss in our Oakcrest family, we will be closed today, Friday, August 6th," read a sign on the tavern's doors. "Thank you for understanding and allowing our staff time to grieve," the sign said.
MPD said in a news release Friday, the crash happened at about 10:50 p.m. along the railroad track in the 5400 block of Old Middleton Road. The release states the woman "succumbed to her injuries."
According to police, there was no indication of impairment or negligence on the part of the train operator.
"The investigation is still ongoing," Detective Scott Reitmeier tells 27 News.
Co-workers tell 27 News the victim was at Oakcrest before the collision, but was a patron and was not working. Friends say the train tracks are between the tavern and the victim's home. They say she's walked the route before.
As of 4 p.m. Friday, the train's owner, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad, had yet to file a fatal incident report with the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Railroads.
The Office's Public Policy Analyst, Heather Graves says certain, safety steps are required of all trains.
"The trains have headlights that operate at all times of the day," Graves says. "Train engineers...have the ability to blow the whistle at any time they feel necessary."
The tracks where the collision took place are in a wooded area and not at a public grade crossing, although neighbors say people use the track section as a short cut and even walk dogs along the tracks.
"It's just extremely dangerous for people to cross railroad tracks at a place that's not authorized," Graves says.
All normal railroad traffic has resumed Friday morning.
More at WKOW 27 News